I'm not familiar with how cablecards are hooked up. I know 2 of them are needed to use both tuners. Does the cable coaxial cable hook up to the cable input on the S3 or does it connect via a splitter to both cablecards?

CableCards are essentially hardware "keys" to unlock encrypted content. The cable connects to the coaxial terminal on the TiVo box, and then the content that flows over that cable is unencrypted by the CableCards.

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And I happen to think mine is the level head and yours is the one things would roll off of.

I've held off getting Verizon FiOS because I figured it wouldn't work with TiVo. I just tried to find info about cable cards on their site, but no luck. Could someone point me in the right direction? As happy as I am to get rid of the COX DVR, I'd be even happier to ditch COX altogether.

All of the outputs function simultaneously. No need to do any toggling.

Suh-weeet! Thanks, TiVoJerry. I know this was an issue on the HR10-250, and due to how I distribute video in my house, that was sort of a deal-breaker. I can live without MRV for the time being... and am now looking forward to some dual tuner HD TiVo goodness.

What about output "formats". Does it improve SD programming. Taking S2 and displaying to a 50" TV leave a real blocky picture. Does the Hybrid mode help with the display?

SD is improved - I just posted my review at TiVoLovers.com and I'm scrambling to get a bbcode formatted version to post here. But I have a day job and all, so give me a minute. ;-)

As for the other question - ALL outputs are active, nothing to toggle. So you can use the HDMI, component, S-Video, and composite outputs all at the same time if you want.

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As an FYI to those who may be purchasing replacement drives for the S3, please read the following before spending your money.

After perusing MZ's internal pics of the S3, I notice that the connector on the SATA hard drive is the Western Digital proprietary SATA connector. It makes the connections much less prone to coming lose due to vibration etc. ...

Unfortunately, it is proprietary, and one complete assembly. The power and data cables are attached to one molded connector. If you trace the SATA connector back to the motherboard, it appears to be a standard connector, so there should be no problem replacing the SATA cable. On the other hand, the power connector appears to be soldered into the power supply board.

Unless you are comfortable soldering, it would seem that an adapter (connector) to power the HD, or a WD drive will be necessary to replace the stock S3 HD.

Here is a link to the WD cable. It appears as though the cable in the S3 is a modified version of the one you can purchase directly from WD as the TiVo version has the power cable integrated into the connector.

Of course, there is a good chance that a retail WD HD would work without any modification, as long as it can accept power through the SATA power connector on the WD proprietary connection.

Any brave souls out there I know I'm not going to mess with mine when I get it. I'll just go the external route, or possible upgrade with a larger HD.

I have a WD SATA drive installed in my computer with the linked cable. AFAIK, it only uses the SATA power port to hold itself better onto the drive. And the drive is then run by a regular power connector. And I'm not positive, but it looked like it would connect to any SATA drive. I'll try an' post again when I get a chance to see the pics.

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Nemo me impune lacessit.

Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

As an FYI to those who may be purchasing replacement drives for the S3, please read the following before spending your money.

After perusing MZ's internal pics of the S3, I notice that the connector on the SATA hard drive is the Western Digital proprietary SATA connector. It makes the connections much less prone to coming lose due to vibration etc. ...

Unfortunately, it is proprietary, and one complete assembly. The power and data cables are attached to one molded connector. If you trace the SATA connector back to the motherboard, it appears to be a standard connector, so there should be no problem replacing the SATA cable. On the other hand, the power connector appears to be soldered into the power supply board.

Actually, from what I can tell, the WD proprietary SATA connection is only data, but it covers the normal SATA power connection on the HDD - so you instead get power from an old-style power connector (WD is one of the few to put this on their HDDs) - which is exactly what you see in Megazone's pics.

This is of intense interest to me - since with only 30+/- hours of HD, I NEED MORE STORAGE. I'd prefer to be able to use TTG and store on my PC (should be legal for OTA HD, though when and if we'll ever see it). I'd be OK using the ESATA for now, though that seems unlikely for a while. Thus, it looks like a little dsik upgrade may be in order - you can get a 500gb WD Caviar for under $200, and I can't see any physical reason why it can't be done - don't know about the software. Then keep the orginal disk, buy an enclosure and use it when they enable ESATA.

Actually, from what I can tell, the WD proprietary SATA connection is only data, but it covers the normal SATA power connection on the HDD - so you instead get power from an old-style power connector (WD is one of the few to put this on their HDDs) - which is exactly what you see in Megazone's pics.

yep, from the WD link "you must use the legacy power adapter because the SecureConnect cable utilizes the SATA power port to provide additional stability"

I have a WD SATA drive installed in my computer with the linked cable. AFAIK, it only uses the SATA power port to hold itself better onto the drive. And the drive is then run by a regular power connector. And I'm not positive, but it looked like it would connect to any SATA drive. I'll try an' post again when I get a chance to see the pics.

The SATA port looks normal on the motherboard. The side of the power cable that connects to the power supply is soldered in. Both SATA cable and power cable run into this adapter seperately which hooks into the drive.

Now, the SATA being normal means we can just swap that cable. But looking at the power portion its your standard 4 power wires, they are just run into the back of this connector.

Dollars to donuts you can just use a standard SATA cable for data, clip the power wires from the connector, and stick a standard drive power connector on the ends of the 4 wires.

The main question is has TiVo changed anything about MFS? Its one thing to be able to physically swap the drive, its another to bless it for use in a TiVo. The other question would be does the SATA port on the motherboard provide power like a normal SATA port? If so, then we could use any SATA drive.

Anyone with an S3 want to plug a standard SATA drive into the motherboard with a standard SATA cable and see if it spins up? .

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You can unravel the URL and go directly to my server. I don't want to post the direct URLs because when I did that at CES it crushed my server.

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Is their a way to list all the upcoming HD programming only for the next 14 days to choose which HD only programming to record?

None that I found, but that's an interesting idea.

Maybe a Keyword wishlist for HDTV would narrow it down.

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What does Native mean? Hybrid? Fixed?
" Hybrid modes convert all HD content to the resolution specified, and all SD content to 480p. Fixed modes convert all video to the resolution specified."

It looks like Hybrid and Fixed give the same results. In Hybrid mode if I indicate convert all HD content to 1080i and in Fixed mode I indicated to convert all video to 1080i, do I get the same results?? I am not sure I see the differences between the two.

In hybrid HD content is converted to the selected resolution, and SD content is converted to 480p.

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You do have to repeat Guided Setup, but it doesn't take that long since it is a partial repeat. 15-20 minutes I guess. Most of that is the data download and unpacking.

It prompts you if you insert or remove a CC to re-run GS, and you can choose to do it now or later.

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